Thursday, August 13, 2009

Why Matthew Walked Out on (500) Days of Summer

I chatted with Matthew (thank you facebook, you bring families together) today about 500 days of Summer. To save time and energy (you'll waste enough of that trying to understand Matthew's psyche) I'll just recreate our chat here. I've deleted the parts where we talk about Mom's upcoming 63rd birthday.

Me:why did you walk out on 500 days of summer?and what part did you walk out on?

Matthew:the first 30 minit was really bad

Madeline:why?what did it in?

Matthew:they were more focused on being hip than having a moviethey referenced a band or a song like every 5 min

Madeline:I didn't think it was THAT bad

Matthew:it was kind of gross

I might watch it tonightgive it a second chance

Madeline:I think you should watch it all the way through

Matthew:yeahI knowIt just bothered me

the Smith'sPixiesBruce SpringsteenSid and Nancythere's more too I'm just forgetting

Matthew:well that's 4 in 30 min?a little too much like, trying super hard to just appeal to a certain audience than write a movietoo much cashing in

Matthew:I understand that you want to connect to your audience and relate to them

(ed. note: I deleted a part here where I didn't listen to him and repeated a question, because it makes me sound stupid)

Matthew:it was trying too hard to connect with an audience through pop culture than through a storya love storyan easily relatable love storyand zooey deschawhatever was fucking stupidand so was 3rd rock

Madeline:well, to be fair, you only watched 30 minutes so they could've only set up the problem to the story in that timewhy did you think they were stupid?

12 comments:

Secondly, I think Matthew says what I don't have the balls to say. This is partly because I have NO balls and partly because any woman who says she doesn't like Zooey Deschanewhatherface is probably just jealous. I will not dignify that self-accusation with a response.

I agree that it's an annoying flick full of cashing in, however, I also related to a lot of it and got bitter all over again for jerks-of-relationship-past... so once you get over the hiccups holding it back it's not that terrible. Kodiak and I agree that they tried too hard to let Zooey's character off the hook for any responsibility in 3rd Rock's falling so hard/fast for her. Which is utter crap. Complicit all the way, I think.

So while it's not one I'll ever rent/buy/etc. and I'm glad Kodiak let us in for freebie, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Garden State.

Golly, I'm like a stalker on everyone's blogs these days. Sorry about that.

I agree with almost all of Matthew's sentiments. Also, I watched half of "Yes Man" the other day and ZD sings in that one too. She's adorable as hell, but apparently can only play one character? Wide-eyed, kind of aloof pretty girl dressed in quirky, retroesque duds who has at least one scene of obligatory singing? Her room featured in Domino was pretty cute, though.

I admit I'm one of those movie goers I bet the industry loves. I watch movies to escape thinking (generally) and I like giving my brain a rest and enjoying things face value. I will also fess up right here and now I can't seem to get over my Zooey girlcrush even though I would like to. So my fresh out of the movie review of this one was "I liked it." At second glance I actually totally agree with Matt. I fall for things even when I don't want to. And yes, I used to watch Gilmore Girls...

Gilmore Girls, though, was pretty unique when it first came out, with its fast-paced banter and cultural references, both pop and classic. However, once in a 3 a.m. viewing of some DVD extras (hey, I used to work nights and had no cable) I saw interviews with cast members who admitted they had no idea what most of the references meant. It really ruined GG for me in some small way. And now I don't watch DVD extras. The end.